Improved apparatus for purifying-, screening



` Imhovnn APPARATUS PORPURIFYINQSCREENING, `erm c oonme VRHBIJ'RN'I- BQNE- atleti y Wire.

l MELANCTHON HANFORD, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTsi Leners Patent No, 90,097, dem; May 1s, 1869.

l BLACK c The Scheduler referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all to whom twseprescnts .shallfcom` Be it-known` that I, MELANGTHOMHANFORD, of `Boston, inthe county of Suffolk, and State of Massa.

chusetts, have made an invention Vof a newfand useful Combination of Mechanism for Elevating, Cooling, and V Screening Renewed Charcoal of Sugar-Relinci-S; and do hereby declare the following to be a full, clearyand exact description thereof, due reference beinghadtc `iication, and in whichthe accompanying drawings, makingpart of this specil l "Figure 1 is a vertical central section, and

` Figure 2, a vertical and transverse section of an apparatus or arrangement of devices in which my inven-` tion is embodied. l

Eigure is a plan of the screening-chamber, which l willbe hereinafter referred to.Y v

The process of refining sugar, Vand the use to which charcoal is put, or the function it performs in such process, are so well known and understood that extended i Yreferenceto'thesame in this specification is considered `superfluous and unnecessary. Sullce it to saythat the charcoal, having'become saturated or impregnated withthe impurities from ther sugar, .isrst subjected to great heat, to destroy and remove these impurities,

" and is `subsequentlylaid upon an extended fiat surface, and raked over and stirred' by"a workman' for an hour or more, until cool, when it is collectedand elevated to its" destination" by abucket-elevatoaso called, or by beinglhoisted in barrels. v c

This act of 'raking and stirring the coal, as well as the character of the device employed for elevating it,

` mutually tend to granulate andpulverize` portions of the charcoal, which,` addedl to the 'time consumed in l plained.'

stirring the coal, causes as erious loss well understood by sugar-reners, and which my invention is intended to-overcome.

Several incidental advantages result from the adop. tion of my invention, which will be herein duly ex-` Theinvention, comprising the subject-matter of this t f: `"patent,relates `to-af systematic combination and art rangement of instrumentalities for receiving and ,ele-

vating, to a desiredlocality, a mass of reviviied charf coal in a heated state, `of screeningthe coal in its l ascent, and of separatingthe granulated and pulverl ized portion from the larger particles, the former being c moistened, and conveyed aftersuch separation to a l l suitable receiver, and the latter being discharged'into a proper receptacle for use anew, the coal in-its ascent i c 4bei/ng thoroughly cooled bythe same instrumentality which elevates it. Y

The devicci'or elevating the coal consists-in the eine ployment of a suitable air-forcingfpump, driven by steamr or other enginery, and' connected withv a tubul i llarch nte, which communicates with va suitable screening-device 'surmounting such p ump; a receivingrhopper being disposed in close proximity to ,the pump,

and connected with the chute in such vmanner that a mass of charcoah'in a heated state, being thrown into such hopper, shall be enveloped by and 'raised witbthe blast of air iiowing through the chute,the circulation of air about the coal during its ascent having the effect,

` as before observed, of extracting the latent heat therefrom.

The device for screening the mass of coal consists of a suitable closed chest for receiving such mass `of coal, and connecting with the terminusA of the chute,the interior of such chest/being provided at its upper part with au inverted, conical, and foraminous deiiecter, for deilecting the larger particles' of the 'coal outwardly.

and downwardupon the licor of the chest, which is inclined in order to allow such particles of coal to roll or slide therefrom into' a suitable receiver; the cover of the chest being provided with a suitable screen for permitting escape of the'pulverized and finely-granulatedl portions of' coal, which are carried by the blast of air through a conduit communicating with the cover of-thechest at -one extremity, and at its oppo.`

site extremity opening intoa second closed chest or receiver, wherein it is deposited; lthe mass-of` pulverized coal ordust, in its passage throughthe conduit, being moisteued by steam admitted thereto under low pressure, by which its particles are caused to adhere, and its precipitation' within the receiver aided and hastened, the ,whole being as hereinafter explained.

In the drawings, to which allusion has before been made, and which illustrate my invention- A denotes an air-forcing engine,A of any Well-known or proper construction, and B, a steam-engine, suchdevices being constructed and arranged in any of the well-known methods, and disposed upon the floor of an apartment of a sugar-refining,establishment, such door being shown at 0. Y l

D denotes a Siphon-shaped tubular chute one ex tremity of which' is connected with the air-pump A, while` its opposite extremity is prolonged, and carried Vto a higher apartmentof the establishment. v

Immediately adj acent to-and oppositethe outer end.

'of the pump A, l place a trumpet-shaped hopper E,

extending through the floor O, and over the lower bend F .ofthe siphon, with which it communicates by an annular pipe, Gr, as represented in the" drawings.

4'The door ofthe upper apartment in which the screen is placed, is shown at H, the chute D extending upward through. it. f 1

The screening-chestis shown at I as a closed vessel, of a cylindrical or other proper shape, the door J of the same being inclined at an obtuse angle, and provided with a discharging-orifice, K, for permitting the escape v of the larger particles of coal, which descend by their own gravityft such door. f ,f

`:Within such chest I, and at 'the upper part there of, I dispose an inverted, conical, and concave and foraminous deector L, the disposition of the deiiector being such that an annular space interposes between its base and the inner circumference of the chest.

Immediately over the deflector IL, and within the capN of the chest I, I place a horizontal screen-O, while to the upper part of such cap, and communicating with the interior of the chest, I aihx a horizontal conduit P, the outlet of such conduit communicating, in turn, with the interior of' a second closed chest, Q, disposed alongside-of the chest I, and which forms a receptacle for the dust and finer portions of the coal. The cover of this latter chest may be provided with au outlet, c', for permitting the escape of the blast of air.

A steam-pipe, shown at S in the drawings, is to be applied to the conduit P, and communicating with its interior.

The above description embraces the mechanical construction and arrangement of the devices, whose combination forms my present invention, the operation of the same being as follows, pre'mising the fact that the air-pump is in effective operation:

A mass of renewed charcoal, in a heated state, is thrown into the hopper E, and b v means of the annular pipe G, is conducted into the chute D, and the current orblast of air through the same induced by the air-pump A.

'lhe mass of coal is seized and enveloped by the cnr rent of air, and elevated by and with it to the receiving-chest I in its passage through the chute D, parting with its latent heat, and being thoroughly cooled.

The mass of coal thus'transported impinges against and about the apiculated deflector L, a portion of the dust and finely-granulated particles passing through the interstices of such deector, and the remainder circulating about its exterior, the dust being carried upward through the screen O, and into the conduit P, the said screen having the effect of entirely preventing the passage of any-sized particles of coal, which may have reached this point in company with the dust. The particles of 'coal which are delected from the surface ofthe d cfiector L, as well as those impinging against the screen O, fall by gravitation to the inclined floor of the chest I, from whence the mass is discharged through the orice K into a proper receptacle, when it is ready to renew its functions.

The dust and-fine particles of coal are carried by the current of air through the conduit P, being, in their transit through such conduit, moistened by the steam admitted thereto sufficiently to adhere together, and

acquire thereby suicient gravity to fall precipitateiy within the. receiver Q, from which the resulting mass may be removed at proper times. The steam also has the effect of preventing escape of they dust with the blast of air from the outlet ofthe receiver.

The advantages oflny invention, as above expaineld, are several, among which are thc following:

First, an economy in labor is effected in proportion to the difference in time required to rake over and disturb the heated mass of coal, and that required to dump it into the hopper E, this economy of time being, in a large establishment, a mattei' of considerable mo'- ment.

Second, by the use of my invention, the particles of coal are, to a' much greater degree, saved intact than by the mode now adopted for lcooling and elevating them, which tends to pulverize a great amount of the coal; the saving in this respect by my invention being an important matter, as will be apparent when the fact is taken into consideration that the same particles of coal are used and cleaned many times over in the process of refining sugar.

Third, the employmentof steam adds in a great de grec to the collection and precipitation of the dust arising from the elevation ofthe mass ofcoal, the ad vantage of' which will be wellv understood by experienced persons.

. The entire apparatus is compact, and may be produced at small comparative cost.

Claim.

I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States, as follows:

As a device for elevating, cooling in transition, and screening a mass of renewed charcoal from sugar-re finer-ies, the employment and arrangement of an air-` engine, areceiving, elevating, and cooling-chute, and screening and receiving-chests, the chute being connected with the engine, and provided with the fillinglxopper, or its equivalent, and the receiving-chest with the apiculated deector L and screen O, and connected with the receiving-chestQ by tho conduit P, the latter being provided with means for admitting steam to its interior, and the whole operating in manner, and' to produce results substantially as before shown and described.

MELANCTHON HANFORD. Witnesses d EDWARD GRIFFITH, FRED. CURTIS. 

